User blog:RoboticAdventure/SpongeBob's Robotic Adventure 2 - Devlog 2
SpongeBob's Robotic Adventure 2 has technically been in development since around August 2013, however, it's gone through many changes and restarts ever since then. From "Chumopolis!" to "Legend of the Jellyfish," no one has really been sure what SRA2 really looks like. Well, the actual answer might be a little disappointing. Right now, SRA2 is filled with placeholder graphics; most of them ripped directly from SRA. In addition to that, all sound effects and most music are taken directly from games like The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – these are all placeholders too; most if not all sound effects and music will be completely original in the final game. However, even past graphical and sound placeholders, the game itself is buggy as-is. There are tons of new features all splattered onto the SRA engine (which was reconstructed from scratch, and now allows for new features to be added really quickly) and none of them are fine-tuned – definitely not good enough for the final game! Many of these bugs are just graphical nuisances, and can probably be fixed pretty quickly, but right now, the main concern is getting everything working at its bare core. And even that sometimes proves to be a struggle. There have already been tons of features that have been thrown out just because they didn't work that well in-game – or that it was impossible to find a way to make it work well. If you have to force a feature to be good, it's probably not a good feature. And as such, this is a learning experience too; learning what works for a game and what doesn't. There's also the "maybe" pile, in which a bunch of features that might be in the final game are thrown. This pile is either added to merely because a feature has a few bugs or because it doesn't work as well as the vision of it did in-game, and the realization has come that it may or may not be a good idea to keep it. This is probably the most full pile, but toss-outs and working features are right up there too. And now finally, the moment you've been waiting for, which was promised in the last devlog – a first look at a few new features that have been added in SRA2. Seriously, spoiler alert. DO NOT read ahead if you don't want to be spoiled!! The first new feature isn't so much of a new feature as it is an add-on of a classic SRA feature: points. First of all, that hugely annoying sound that pierces your speaker, your eardrums and the eardrums of everyone within 20 miles of you, has finally been replaced with a much more pleasant sound that still resonates as a ding. As such, you can finally now actually enjoy listening to the game (you're welcome). A new addition to these points, however, is that there are now 6 kinds of points. Each kind gives you a different amount of points, and is notated by a different color. These colors are listed below, and are pretty easy to get used to: *'Red' – 1. The one that we're all already used to. *'Yellow' – 2. *'Green' – 5. *'Blue' – 10. *'Teal/Light Blue' – 25. *'Purple/Pink' – 50. The less a point is worth, the easier it will be to find it, and the opposite for highly valued points. Also, your score actually matters this time around – more will be gone into that later down the road. Another cool addition to the point mechanism (and pretty much any other collectible) is that you don't actually have to touch them to collect them; if you get within a certain radius, the point/collectible will just fly towards you and won't stop until it hits you. You will never be cheated out of a point. The next new feature doesn't really change the gameplay that much, but it also does a lot. It's one of those things that you don't really notice at first but you get attached to it and don't even realize it when you come across it. And this new feature is crates. Stolen directly from tikis in Battle for Bikini Bottom, or its equivalent of Plan Z crates in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, these crates act the same; simply attack one and it gives you a certain amount of points. However, some crates are worth more than others, and as such, they may be harder to destroy. Some might just need you to hit it a few times, but others might make you use another attack (wink wink). There are also a certain type of crates that will be used in puzzles, and are metal to distinguish it easily from other crates. These crates can be destroyed (either by a bunch of hits or by fall damage) but that would most likely screw you out of completing the puzzle. So don't do that. Oh yeah, also, you heard right: fall damage is a thing in SRA2. It doesn't only apply to crates – it applies to everything, including you. So think twice before you jump off that really high ledge. Obviously, the higher you fall from, the more damage you're going to take. That's all for this devlog. Come back really soon to find out a few more SRA2 secrets, and a fun surprise that I have in store. Also, please note that you can suggest anything that you want to see in the game either in the comments or by filling out this Google Form. Thank you! SRA2 Development Blog Previous ▪ Next Category:Blog posts Category:SpongeBob's Robotic Adventure Category:HafenGames Related Stuff